Art of heating



Aug. 23, 1938. w. s. GULLETTE ART OF HEATING Filed April 26, 1953 5 Shee'ts-Sheet 1 fie, (fl,

ATTORNEYS 'Aug. 23, 1938. v w 5 GULLETTE 2,127,815

ART OF HEATING Filed April 26, 1953 I5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Aug. 23, 1938.

w. s. GULLETTE 2,127,815

ART OF HEATING 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed April 26, 1953 lfa.

llllllllll'lllllllv' lZa I IN E TOR Wag 4 AQ'TORQI-ZQ Patented Aug. 23, 1938 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE ART OF HEATING Willis S. Gullette, Highland, 1116., asslgnor to Sinclair Refining Company, New York, N. Y., a corporation of Maine Application April 26, 1933, Serial No. 668,000 10 Claims. (01. 196-110) This invention relates to improvements in furnaces for heating oils, petroleum oils for example, to temperatures appropriate to distillation, cracking or similar processing, for example. The improved oil heater of this invention enjoys, as a special advantage, unusually close control of the temperature gradient of the oil passing through the heater throughout its passage therethrough and, further, is compact with respect to its capacity and is adapted to the development of high fuel efliciencies.

The oil heater of this invention comprisesa furnace chamber generally rectangular in horizontal cross section, two groups of substantially vertical tubes through which the oil to be heated passes arranged in banks substantially parallel to the two longer walls of this chamber, these banks being spaced from each other and from the two longer walls of the chamber, an exit flue communicating with the space within the chamber between the banks of tubes, and a plurality of burners arranged at horizontally spaced points adapted to maintain a corresponding plurality of horizontally spaced loci of heat liberation along each of the two longer walls of the chamber. The special advantage of the oil heater of the invention with respect to control of the temperature gradient of oil passing through the heater is developed more particularly when each group of tubes is serially connected'to form a long, continuous heating coil and when each of the burn ers is independently regulable. Control of the temperature gradient of oil passing through the heater is further developed by providing a plurality of groups of vertically spaced burners arranged at horizontally spaced points along each of the longer walls of the chamber. The exit flue is with advantage arranged to communicate with the lower part of the space between the banks of tubes and the burners are with advantage arranged along the upper parts of the longer walls of the furnace chamber. Bafiling means, extending from end to end of the furnace chamber and from a point spaced from the floor or roof of the chamber, from the floor if the exit flue communicates with the lower part of the chamber and from the roof if the exit flue communicates with the upper part of the chamber to the roof or to the floor, respectively, of the chamber, may be arranged in the space'between the banks of tubes. Such baffling means may, for example, take the form of one or more plates of appropriate heat resisting alloys.

The invention will be further described in connection with the ac m nying drawings which illustrate two forms of oil heater embodying the invention. In the accompanying drawings Fig. 1 is a vertical section, on line l--l of Fig. 2 of one form of oil heater embodying the invention and Fig. 2 is a horizontal section on line 2-2 of Fig. l, and. Fig. 3 is a vertical section corresponding to Fig. 1 of a modified form of oil heater embodying the invention.

The oil heater illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2 comprises a furnace chamber 3 having two longer side walls 4 and 5, end walls 6 and I, and a roof 8 and a floor 9, two groups of substantially vertical tubes arranged in banks l0 and I I, these banks being substantially parallel to the walls 4 and 5 and spaced from each other and from the walls 4 and 5, an exit flue l2 communicating with the lower part of the chamber 3 through a duct l3 opening through the floor 9 between the lower ends of the banks of tubes l0 and II, and a plurality of groups of vertically spaced burners (see Fig. 1) arranged at horizontally spaced points (see Fig. 2) along the upper part of each of the walls 4 and 5. The burners are designated IS in Figs. 1 and 2. In the particular oil heater illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2, the lower parts of the walls 4 and 5 are sloped inwardly toward the lower ends of the banks of tubes l0 and H to promote reradiation of heat to the lower parts of the tubes and to assist, in conjunction with the baffles l4 and i5, in avoiding eddies in the flow of the products of combustion generated by the several burners to the exit flue 12. The baffles l4 and I5, of an appropriate heat-resisting alloy, extend from end to end of the furnace chamber and from the roof to a point above the floor, the products of combustion passing through the space between the lower edge of these baflles and the floor on their way to the exit flue. A single central baille, for example, may be substituted for the pair of bailles illustrated, or baiiling means may be omitted altogether. Each of the burners l6, gas burners or oil burners of conventional type for example, is made independently regulable by the provision of appropriate means for controlling the rate of supply of fuel and the rate of supply of air for combustion.

In the oil heater illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2, air for combustion, preheated for example by heat exchange with the waste heating gases escaping through exit flue I2, is supplied through conduits l1 and branch conduits l8 and fuel, oil or gas, is supplied through connections l9 to each of the several burners. The embodiment of the invention illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2 may 55 be modified by omitting one or more groups of burners and the connections for supplying air for combustion and supplying heat at such points, for example, by recirculating part of the waste heating gases escaping through exit fiue l2 through ports corresponding to those in which the burners of such omitted groups would be arranged. For example, a mild initial heating may thus be effected by omitting the two groups of burners on each side of the furnace chamber adjacent the tubes through which oil first passes and recirculating waste heating gases through ports corresponding to those in which the omitted burners would be arranged.

The tubes of each group comprising the banks ll and ii are serially connected to form two long continuous heating coils. The path of oil travel through the tubes of each bank is susceptible of wide variation. Although in a single heater the tubes in each bank are normally connected in the same manner, for the purpose of illustration of this possibility of variation, the tubes of bank ID are shown connected in one fashion and the tubes of bank II in another, the oil flow in bank l0 being through the first tube in the back row then through the first tube in the front row then through the second tube in the back row then through the second tube in the front row and so on, and the oil flow in bank ii being through the first tube in the front row then through the first tube in the back row then through the second tube in the front row then through the second tube in the back row and so on to about the middle point of the bank and then successively through the remaining tubes in the back row and thereafter through-the remaining tubes in the front row. It will be apparent that each bank of tubes may consist of a single row of tubes or of two, three or more rows of tubes. The connections from tube to tube are made by return bends, of conventional type for example, arranged outside of the furnace chamber, the ends of the tubes extending through openings in the roof and fioor of the furnace chamber arranged for this purpose, the space about the tubes in these openings being closed, by plates 20 for example, as in conventional practice. Additional tubes may also be arranged along the side walls 4 and I in the spaces between the groups of burners.

The oil heater illustrated in Fig. 3 differs from that illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2 only in the arrangement of the burners. The burners are designated 22 in Fig. 3, and the same parts appearing in Figs. 1 and 2 are designated with the same reference numerals with the letter 0 appended. In the oil heater illustrated in Fig. 3, a plurality of burners 22 are arranged at horizontally spaced points along the roof 8a between the upper ends of the banks of tubes Illa and Ila and each of the walls in and la. These burners are arranged so that the axes of the generated flames intersect the side walls at points approximately corresponding to those designated 2|. This embodiment of the invention is particularly useful where oil is used as fuel.

The invention is of general utility in heating oil, but it is of special utility in applications where the temperature gradient of the oil passing through the heater is important, in cracking operations, for example, where the rate and nature of the reactions involved are controlled to an important extent by this temperature gradient and in the distillation or treatment at elevated temperatures of lubricating stocks, for example,

where control of this temperature gradient is important with respect to the avoidance of decomposition of the product.

I claim:

1. An oil heater comprising a chamber generally rectangular in horizontal cross section, two groups of serially connected substantially vertical substantially straight tubes extending through the roof and through the floor of said chamber and arranged in relatively long and narrow banks disposed with their longer axes substantially parallel to the two longer walls of the said chamber, said banks being spaced from each other and a substantial distance from said longer walls, an exit flue communicating with the space within said chamber between said banks of tubes, and a plurality of burners arranged at points horizontally spaced along lines parallel to said longer walls and positioned to discharge flames into the space between said longer walls and the adjacent tube banks.

2. An oil heater comprising a chamber generally rectangular in horizontal cross section, two groups of substantially vertical serially connected tubes arranged in relatively long and narrow banks disposed with their longer axes substan tially parallel to the two longer walls of said chamber, said banks being spaced from each other and a substantial distance from said longer walls, an exit fiue communicating with the space within said chamber between said banks of tubes and a plurality of independently regulable bumers arranged at horizontally spaced points along each of said longer walls and positioned to discharge flames into the space between said longer walls and the adjacent tube banks.

3. An oil heater comprising a chamber generally rectangular in horizontal cross section, two groups of substantially vertical tubes arranged in relatively long and narrow banks disposed with their longer axes substantially parallel to the two longer walls of said chamber, said banks being spaced from each other and from-said longer walls, an exit flue communicating with the lower part of the space within said chamber between said banks of tubes, and a plurality of burners arranged at horizontally spaced points along the upper part of each of said longer walls.

4. An oil heater comprising a chamber generally rectangular in horizontal cross section, two groups of substantiallyvertical tubes arranged in relatively long and narrow banks disposed with their longer axes substantially parallel to the two longer walls of said chamber, said banks being spaced from each other and from said longer walls, an exit flue communicating with the lower part ofthe space within said chamber between said banks of tubes, a plurality of burners arranged at horizontally spaced points along the upper part of each of said longer walls, and baiiling means arranged in the space between said banks of tubes extending from end to end of said chamber and from the roof of said chamber over the greater part of the chamber height to a point above that at which said exit fiue communicates with said space.

5. An oil heater comprising a chamber generally rectangular in horizontal cross section, two groups of substantially vertical tubes arranged in relatively long and narrow banks disposed with their longer axes substantially parallel to the two longer walls of said chamber, said banks being spaced from each other and from said longer walls, an exit flue communicating with the space within said chamber between said banks of tubes, and a plurality of groups of vertically spaced burners arranged at horizontally spaced points along each of said longer walls.

6. An oil heater comprising a chamber generally rectangular in horizontal cross section, two groups of serially connected substantially vertical tubes arranged in relatively long and narrow banks disposed with their longer axes substantially parallel to the two longer walls oi? the said chamber, said banks being spaced from each other and from said longer walls, an exit flue communicating with the space within said chamber between said banks of tubes, and a plurality of burners arranged at horizontally spaced points along the roof of the said chamber between said banks and said longer walls.

7. An oil heater comprising a chamber generally rectangular in horizontal cross section, two groups of serially connected substantially vertical tubes arranged in relatively long and narrow banks disposed with their longer axes substantially parallel to the two longer walls oi. the said chamber, said banks being spaced from each other and from said longer walls, an exit flue communicating with the space within said chamber between said banks of tubes, and a plurality of burners arranged at horizontally spaced points along the roof oi. the said chamber between said banks and said longer walls and arranged so that the axes of the generated flames incline away from said tubes.

8. An oil heater comprising a chamber generally rectangular in horizontal cross section, two groups of substantially vertical tubes arranged in relatively long and narrow banks disposed with their longer axes substantially parallel tothe two longer walls of the said chamber, said banks being spaced from each other and a substantial distance from said longer walls, an exit flue communicating with the space within said chamber between said banks of tubes, a plurality of burners arranged at points horizontally spaced along lines parallel to said longer walls and positioned to discharge flames into the space between said longer walls and the adjacent tube banks, and baflling means arranged in the space between said banks of tubes extending from end to end of said chamber and over the greater part of the chamber height but leaving a passage to said exit flue.

9. An oil heater comprising a chamber generally rectangular in horizontal crosssectlon, two groups of serially connected substantially vertical substantially 1 straight tubes extending through the roof and through the floor of said chamber and arranged in relatively long and narrow banks disposed with their longer axes substantially parallel to the two longer walls of the said chamber, said banks being spaced from each other and a substantial distance from said longer walls, an exit flue communicating with the space within said chamber between said banks of tubes, and a plurality of burners arranged at horizontally spaced points along each of said longer walls and positioned to discharge flames into the space between said longer walls and the adjacent tube banks.

10. An oil heater comprising a chamber generally rectangular in horizontal crosssection, two groups of substantially vertical tubes arranged in relatively long and narrow banks disposed with their longer axes substantially parallel to the two longer walls 01' the said chamber, said-banks being spaced from each other and a substantial distance from said longer walls, an exit flue communicating with the space within said chamber between said banks of tubes, a plurality of burners arranged at horizontally spaced points along each of said longer walls and positioned to discharge flames into the space between said longer walls and the adjacent tube banks, and bailing means arranged in the space between said banks of tubes extending from end to end of said chamher and over the greater part of the chamber 0 height but leaving a passage to said exit flue.

WILLIS B. Gnu-rm. 

